Shoppers at Lidl have been left shocked after being hit with fines saying they had been parked for 70 hours.
Motorists have been issued with parking tickets at the Lidl store in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland stating they had been parked for over 24 hours over Christmas.
Now, a campaign has been launched by SDLP MLA for South Down Colin McGrath.
The 48 year old highlighted how Northern Ireland is the only country in the UK where it is legal to clamp a vehicle on private property by a private firm.
Shoppers at the Lidl have been left shocked
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In a post on social media, McGrath said: "Busy week shaping up in the constituency- dealing with dozens of people issued with parking tickets at Downpatrick LIDL stating they had been parked for over 24hours over Christmas. In some cases 70hours!
"This needs to be exposed and challenged, which I am doing. However, issue of private companies operating on private land remains a bigger issue.
"We remain the only place out of four nations where it is legal to clamp a vehicle on private property by a private firm.
"I previously challenged Justice Minister Long on this in 2021 who could not act on outlawing the practice due to a 2011 consultation with 12 responses."
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South Down MLA for the SDLP Colin McGrath (left) has launched the campaign
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He added: "How many people have lost money to these profiteers or been threatened with legal action? And still, the North is unable to act! A busy week shaping up here in South Down."
A spokesperson from Lidl said: "Lidl Northern Ireland has been made aware of a fault affecting the Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras within the Downpatrick store car park where a number of customers have had their parking times incorrectly recorded.
"Regrettably, some vehicle owners were issued with parking notices by our car park management company Your Parking Space (YPS), an external third-party contractor, as a result of this issue. We are urgently working to ensure that this technical error is resolved quickly.
"We confirm that any fines incurred during this period will of course be cancelled.
"Lidl Northern Ireland introduced the YPS system at our Downpatrick store in November 2022 so that we can always accommodate our local customers with ample free parking to meet their needs and to ensure we can maintain a regular free flow of movement to allow more shoppers to enjoy priority parking at our store.
"Ensuring that every one of our customers has a positive shopping experience is of the utmost importance to us and we appreciate everyone’s patience while this technical error is being resolved."
It comes as Stormont announced new parking restrictions that will help to address this issue by prohibiting parking wholly or partly on a footway at a number of specific locations.
All vehicles found to be in breach of the new restrictions will receive a £90 Penalty Charge Notice, discounted to £45 if paid within 14 days.
